Sibling dare

Tuesday

Oct 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2007 at 6:06 PM

"At midnight tonight, I want you to meet me at the top of Forest Hill with your brother and sisters."

Josh gulped. Forest Hill was the darkest, spookiest woods in his whole town. Bats swooped through the sky; spiders crawled on the muddy, vine-covered ground. Some said the whispers of ghosts could be heard if one listened closely.

"All right," he murmured.

Before Josh had time to blink, the mysterious woman vanished. Then Josh fully realized the consequences of what he had agreed to.

Luckily he would still be able to trick or treat, but his 9-year-old brother, Zach, and his two older, 13-year-old twin sisters, Iris and Sylvia, would now be involved in this crazy lady's plot as well. Just as Josh thought this, he felt his nose expand.

He looked down through his Gummi eyes and saw his nose had turned into a giant circus peanut. Josh could smell barely anything, just a hint of banana. He also felt his tongue become very heavy, and his mouth started to taste like cherry. His tongue had turned into Laffy Taffy!

It suddenly hit him. How was he going to turn back to normal? Would he be stuck as candy for the rest of his life, maybe even melting in the sun? Josh knew time was quickly running out before he would be incapable of moving. He quickly walked home, pulling his hat low over his face.

"Hey, Josh, what's up?" yelled Zach as Josh entered the house.

Nothing much, except . . . well . . . I'm completely made out of -- "

"Josh!" screamed Iris and Sylvia in unison. "Are you ready for trick-or-treating? It's gonna be a blast!"

"Yeah I am, but, guys,

I need hel--"

"Whoa, man," exclaimed Zach. "Your costume is the coolest, your licorice arm and Gummi eyes almost look good enough to eat. Cool, you have a circus peanut nose. Yum!"

Realizing he would never be able to have a word in edgewise, Josh decided he would just have to play along with the idea that his candy body was a costume. Even if he tried to explain his predicament, his siblings would most likely not believe him.

Josh finally decided he might as well figure out a way to trick his brother and sisters into climbing to the top of Forest Hill.

"At midnight you must all climb to the darkest, spookiest part of Forest Hill, and there you will meet a creepy, silver-haired lady with brilliant, green eyes. Whatever she gives you, you must take!"

"Sweet. But if we complete the dare, you have to give us all your Halloween candy," bargained Zach.

"It's a deal," said Josh in a relieved tone.

At last, thought Josh, I have a way to turn back to normal!

"See you later, kids," called their mother.

"Be careful," called their father.

"Don't be too greedy about all the candy you can get!" they both called.

The children filed outside and started collecting the glory of all glories, beautiful, delicious candy!

By this time Josh's hair was becoming blue spun sugar. Iris and Sylvia were dressed as twin princesses and collected treats with Josh and Zach, who was dressed as a Jedi. Their enormous pillowcases were soon filled to the seams with wonderful treats.

"I wanna go to the haunted house," whined Zach.

"OK, OK, we can go, as long as we have time to complete Zach's dare," said Sylvia in an annoyed tone of voice.

The haunted house had the typical spaghetti "guts" and Jell-O "brain" along with the cheesy fake, glow-in-the-dark skeletons. The haunted house, however, was nothing compared with what the children would soon face.

Later, the children stood at the base of Forest Hill, looking at the deep, dark woods. The trees made shadows that looked like outlines of evil, sharp faces.

Iris, taking the lead, said, "C'mon, guys, do we want Zach's bag of candy or not?!"

"We can do it," were Sylvia's quiet words of encouragement.

"I'm scared. I wanna go home," whimpered Zach.

Josh wondered if it was really all worth it. Was that scary lady really going to turn him back to normal? Was putting his family in danger the right thing to do?

All was quiet as the children entered the heart of the forest. A few whispers of wind threaded throughout the trees while the children stood in the middle of the woods.

A sudden noise broke the silence.

"Well, heh-heh," sneered the green-eyed woman, "little SweeTarts came to visit the bonbon lady. Would you like a piece of candy?"

"Umm . . .," Iris said as she glanced at Josh, remembering the dare, "I suppose so . . ."

"Yes, yes, little SweeTarts, come and have a gum ball," screeched the woman. "Would you like orange? I'm all out of green, hee-hee."

Iris, Sylvia and Zach each chose an orange gum ball and slowly eyed the superb piece of heaven on Earth.

"And you, little candy man, would you like another gum ball?" the evil woman asked Josh.

"I, well, . . . I dunno, . . .

I guess, . . . um, will this . . .

er . . . turn me normal?" mumbled Josh.

"Take the candy!" the

woman commanded.

As the midnight mist rolled through the forest, and bats hunted for a snack, the wind whispered quietly as four lonely pumpkins sat on top of Forest Hill: "Neverrr take candyyy . . . frommmmmmm a ssstranger . . ."